Jacopo da Firenze and the beginning of Italian vernacular algebra

Abstract

In 1307, a certain Jacopo da Firenze wrote in Montpellier a Tractatus algorismi that contains the earliest extant algebra in a European vernacular and probably, as is argued, the first algebra in vernacular Italian. Analysis of the text shows that it cannot descend from any of the algebras written in Latin, nor from any published Arabic treatise, for which reason it presents us with evidence for a so far unexplored level of Arabic algebra. Further, since it contains no Arabisms, it must build on an already existing Romance-speaking environment engaged in algebra. Comparison with other Italian algebras written during the next 40 years show that all are linked to Jacopo or to this environment (perhaps Catalan) and disconnected from Leonardo Fibonacci's Liber abbaci.